Ending: Hansard Scholars Programme
As my time in London comes to a close, I must say working in Parliament was the most rewarding, stressful, and exciting time in my undergraduate career thus far. I remember my very first day conducting research on an Early Day Motion and I recall one of my last days watching UK game shows with my supervisor for two entire hours. No day was alike and no moment was predictable. I completely loved and deplored work, and I say that knowing I would repeat my summer at British Parliament in a heartbeat. I developed my writing skills and understood how to best manage my time when it was necessary. I built my personal independence and confidence. My internship was full of those fight or flight moments but I made myself adapt and respond appropriately rather than allowing myself to falter. All of these personal triumphs are gifts that my internship placement granted me with and thus, my study abroad experience allowed me to grow in several ways.
It also influenced my future goals as I can now see myself working in politics upon graduation. Academically, I feel more knowledgeable in the British political establishment and will certainly continue studying political science. From my time in London, I found how trying yet, exciting the political grind can be and I think I’ve actually found my niche in public policy work.
Overall, living in London for the last few months allowed me to realize how independent, self-reliant, and confident I could be. This time on my own allowed me to discover myself and realize my many strengths and weakness. I surprised myself when I was able to budget my money and time throughout my 8-week trip and got to attend all the London events, tours, and excursions that interested me.
I navigated through my prior fear of failing to budget during my trip by just taking the leap in London, and managing my time and money to the best of my ability. Proper planning, discipline, and organization allowed me to overcome this former apprehension and actually afford the time and money to the locations I wanted to in London.
After studying abroad, I now view the world as a much larger place. Europe is very diverse and after visiting London, I had the opportunity to meet so many people from all parts of the world. I have a new perspective on English people, politics, culture, customs and contemporary topics. After this summer, I see the world overall as this large overwhelming place that is just waiting to be explored.
The single greatest benefit of studying abroad was getting to discover new places and adapt to new people in one of the greatest cities in the world. This allowed me to not only learn about the rest of the world, but also about myself and my abilities.
My favorite experience was visiting the Shard building in London, the tallest building in the European Union, because I was able to view the entire city of London. It was the most amazing sight I have ever seen during my London experience and allowed me to view all of the popular sights in the city, such as the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the London Eye, the River Thames, and Big Ben. This experience was a great way to put the entire city in perspective and really see how vast London really is.
The best advice I can give to future participants is to explore, explore, explore! A study abroad experience can go by too fast and you may feel like you are pressured for time. The best way to counter this is to spend all your free time walking out and about. Rather than sleeping in, watching TV or surfing the web, try your best to take a different way home each day and try a new restaurant each week because these are the real experiences you will remember forever. Don’t forget to take loads of photos!
I would certainly study in London again, especially during the summer, because there is an unlimited number of things to do and during my stay, I never ran out of new places to see. London is large, diverse, and is unlike any other city. In the summer, there are so many free events and tours and students from all over the world also studying abroad. Finally, London is a great location to access the rest of England and Europe and studying abroad there would allow me to rediscover one of my favorite cities and still visit so many places throughout my stay.
